House seller lied to solicitor

witchy1066

sorry to butt in here , I thought planning permission wasn't needed if the extension was under a certain size, I know building regs are needed but is planning permission ?

OP so sorry for you , I am glad I read your post ,its something am going to be questioning our solicitor about when I get to that stage

moneyistooshorttomention

"Permitted development" = that's the phrase you're after and a good point on this.

dotdash79

The OP has said PP was granted in January, so this looks like it has gone through planning.

Saying that I made sure to check these things myself as well when I was buying.

mufi

Windsorcastle wrote: »

I was thinking the same - does a neighbour automatically get informed of Planning Permission? I have had neighbours both sides do building work (loft conversion and an extension) and I was never given any formal notice of this.

How would you prove the seller knew?

I've certainly always been advised in the past.

Unless the previous owner has left a paper trail (eg by objecting to the planning application) you probably cannot. The Judge in a case a couple of years ago gave the vendor the benefit of the doubt, based partly on his lack of objection to the proposed plans.

princeofpounds

Not an expert, but if its NOT down to a conveyancing solicitor to check this, then what the bleep are they for? Might as well do it yourself.

Yes, but the fault may not be down to the solicitor. For example, the council does the search - if the results are erroneous and the vendor lies or never received communication about the planning permission then the solicitor will never know.

Where this could happen is where the council planning database gets the location of postcodes wrong, not indicating the proximity of two properties. So their system may not realise they need to send a letter and return a search result. Obviously the neighbour is also likely to see the planning notice, but you never know.

That's why people are cautioning from going all guns blazing at the solicitor, although there is a good chance they are at fault.

loubel

The local search provides you with information about the property you are buying but unfortunately it does not give you information about other neighbouring properties.

My understanding is that direct neighbours are notified about planning applications though so your neighbour may well have known about it and if so he should have disclosed this in his property information form.

You could sue the seller for your losses (has your property lost value due to the new extension?) but this will be expensive, time-consuming and there's no guarantee of success.

Your best starting point is to go through the paperwork you were sent by your solicitor to see what the seller said. Check the planning paperwork to see when it was granted, if the seller responded etc. And notify your solicitor about the issue and see if their firm is able to assist if you do decide to sue or can recommend a different firm.

DRP

Just a question regarding searches...

Do the 'planning searches' do anything in addition to what any person with internet access can do on the relevant local council planning portal?

I have been checking this throughout my buying process, just in case...

[Deleted User]

Does the neighbour actually have planning permission? Some people just chance it.

freeisgood

Mojo, planning was granted early this year.


I would really expect the house to have lost value, a private garden is highly valued.

System

Don't forget that the neighbours are only informed of a planning application. They are not informed about whether it was successful or not. If the neighbour had to resubmit plans then the neighbour would not be informed. So it may have been applied for a year before but bounced back and forth until agreed. A fair assumption for the seller would be that PP wasn't granted considering the the length of time between application and work commencing.

However the buyer's solicitor SHOULD have picked up thee PP on the searches.